AP-LS News | March 2014

AP-LS Student Section Committee

Status reports from the officers of the Student Section Committee.

AP-LS Members and Students,

Officer Projects Updates

The Student Section Committee (SSC) has been hard at work on a number of different projects, all focusing on enhancing the Division 41 experience for our student constituents. Status re- ports from each of the SSC officers are provided below. For more information about anything listed, check out our section of the AP-LS website or our Facebook page, or e-mail the respective SSC officers by clicking their position titles.

Chair

Chris has been busy assisting with other SSC officers’ initiatives and coordinating conference preparations (e.g., student room share program, SSC-hosted student poster/paper awards, student conference survival guide, fun run course and t-shirts). He has also worked to develop two panels for AP-LS: one on the topic of early career success advice (featuring successful experimental and clinical ECPs); and the other about international collaboration featuring an ECP who has been particularly successful in this area. In addition, Chris co-developed two panel proposals for APA with the student leaders of division 19 on the topics of (1) military applications of forensic psychology and (2) high-profile policy issues at the confluence of law-psychology and the military. Besides conference preparations, Chris recently developed a FAQ about the conference travel awards and SSC-hosted awards and is coordinating ongoing updates to our section of the new Division 41 website. He has also been working to increase the contributions of the SSC to the APAGS Division Student Representative Network, promoting all that our division affords its student members and leaders in order to serve as an example for other APA divisions.

Chair-Elect

Besides assisting the Chair and other SSC officers with their various initiatives, Casey has been focusing on coordinating various AP-LS conference events, including the student conference survival guide, 5k fun run, and SSC social. He has also been developing programming to connect students between conferences—stay tuned for future announcements about this!

Secretary

Lauren has taken minutes for the two conference calls this year’s SSC has had to date (which are now in Google Docs format in order to improve continuity of minutes from year to year). In addition, Lauren has been leading the charge on the room share program for student members attending this year's conference (e-mail Lauren for access), as well as assisting with fun run preparations (t- shirt orders) and student outreach (announcements about conference activities).

Campus Representative Coordinator

Stephanie has been taking our successful campus representative (CR) program and really run- ning with it. She created an online survey format for CR semester reports in order to streamline the manner in which those reports are submitted. She also complied and sent out CR responses gleaned from a survey of CRs that she designed in order to give CRs a multitude of ideas about how to go about achieving their minimum semester goals. In addition, Stephanie designed a monthly newsletter for keeping CRs and their local constituents better apprised of SSC activities, and she has overseen the implementation of a faculty sponsor component of the CR program in order to improve CR continuity at local institutions. She also helped to develop a Facebook group program in which CRs can apply to have a “group page” set up for their use to better disseminate information to students at their local schools. Stephanie will next be developing more objective criteria for the CR of the month program from information gleaned from the CR semester reports for the Fall Term. She will also help in recognizing all of our CRs at the breakfast for first-time conference attendees and CRs at the conference in March.

Communications Officer

We continue to have an active Facebook page (800+ followers), and Joanna has been busy up- dating our page at least once daily. The majority of our recent posts have reached well over 100 individuals. Joanna has also been reaching out to psychology undergraduate students and law students to encourage them to follow our Facebook page. Furthermore, she is working on in- creasing the frequency with which Division 41-affiliated professors give a plug for our Facebook page and website in their relevant courses.

Clinical Liaison

Scholar has been working on maintaining and updating the AP-LS predoctoral internship listing, informing students of pertinent changes to internship listings via social media, relaying urgent APPIC updates pertinent to psychology-law internship listings, and updating students about changes to the APPIC match listing and changes regarding accredited sites. She has also been assisting other SSC officers with their assorted endeavors and conference preparations.

Experimental Liaison

Erika has been updating and reformatting the current postdoc listings, which includes reaching out to psychology-law and forensic psychology researchers who are not currently represented on our postdoctoral listings but who might be interested in hiring postdoc students in the future. In addition, she has been designing a new listing document for undergraduate students interested in gaining additional research experience as post-baccalaureate fellows.

Law Liaison

Emily has been identifying law school student organizations related to mental health law in order to reach out to those student groups with information about AP-LS, its conference, and the resources available through AP-LS and the SSC. She has also been putting together a list of legal summer internship opportunities that are especially relevant to mental health law. If anyone knows of a position that should be included on the list, please email her.

New SSC Website Location and Student Resources

Division 41 recently changed its web address and the SSC’s section of the website is located here. We encourage students to peruse all of the resources we have available on our website, including:

  • Our bylaws and policies and procedures (learn what we do and how we operate).
  • Information about our CR program (whether you’re an undergraduate or graduate student in any interested field, including a law student, consider getting involved and becoming a campus representative for you local institution).
  • Text and video interviews with numerous law-psychology professionals (glean insights from prominent clinicians, researchers, and lawyers working in our field).
  • Announcements and information about conference deadlines, awards, grants, etc. (be in the know and take advantage of all available resources).
  • An up-to-date internship listing (with particularly relevant sites for division 41 students highlighted).
  • A postdoctoral positions listing (updated on an ongoing basis).
  • Information about careers in law-psychology (content that is of particular relevance to our undergraduate members).
  • A listing of training programs (also relevant for our undergraduate students).
  • Links to mentorship opportunities, recommended readings, teaching resources, and more (valuable information for students at all levels of training).
Next Stop New Orleans!

Make sure you are following our Facebook page prior to (and during) the conference for the most current information about the SSC’s conference resources, awards, and programming.

Resources and opportunities

  • Student room share program
  • Student conference survival guide (featuring a new section with the inside scoop on New Orleans from students either from there or living there)
  • SSC-sponsored awards for student first-authored posters and papers (keep an eye out on our Facebook page and website for more information about applying for these awards)

Programming events

  • First-time attendee and CR recognition breakfast
  • Post-breakfast (open to all) presentation by Dr. Jay Singh on the topic of international collaboration, followed by an informal Q&A session
  • SSC-hosted panel: Advice on Early Career Success from Successful Early Career Professionals (tentatively featuring three experimental ECPs and three clinical ECPs)
  • SSC social (free drinks and food at the hotel, as well as a book raffle, followed by a migration to a jazz bar for more nighttime fun)
  • 5k fun run (register here!)—the shirt this year is going to be very cool, featuring these designs (by Kasey Miller again this year) on the front and back, respectively:

We thank all of you for your continued support and look forward to seeing everyone in New Orleans!

Christopher King, BS
Chair

Casey LaDuke, MS
Chair-Elect

Lauren Gonzales, MA
Secretary

Scholar Colbourn, BS
Clinical Liaison

Stephanie Kline, MA
Campus Representative Coordinator

Joanna Weill, MS
Communications Officer

Emily Haney-Caron, BA
Law Liaison

Erika Fountain, BA
Experimental Liaison